filed in Daily Life
What Do You Mourn? What Do You Pledge?
Last night, I went to a vigil organized by my synagogue. We came together in sadness, prayer and song in search of hope for a better tomorrow. We were given post-its and a marker pen, and asked to write answers to the following questions:
What do you mourn?
What do you pledge?
Being in community is so vital right now. Please continue to share your thoughts as we move through these stormy waters. And when you’re ready, let’s get busy.
Illustration by Debbie Millman
Discussion
20 comments for “What Do You Mourn? What Do You Pledge?”
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I finally cried today. I am trying hard to understand how this happened. How did those who voted for him rationalize their vote in their minds? It just doesn’t line up with sanity, morality, good common sense and basic human compassion.
I want this country to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular vote.
I do admit that I feel powerless right now.
I feel powerless too. That’s why I need all of you.
I go back and forth between despair and anger, with anger getting stronger and stronger. My neighbor (with whom I shared a hug and a tear) sent me a link to Michael Moore’s response. It was spot on.
Community IS important and I’ve reached out to friends who are as devastated by this as I am. However, after the mourning period, it’s time to take the gloves off. I pledge to use my righteous anger and give the Republicans a taste of their own medicine. I agree with Moore that we need to move away from the “let us all come together” narrative. NO! Everytime that happens, it’s the center and the left that wind up making concessions. The right KNOWS this. It’s time to stop playing nice.
One of my favorite quotes is “Women who behave rarely make history”. I think it’s time to adopt this as my new motto.
Let your righteous anger be your fuel.
I agree, Petra! I think it’s funny how quickly the media has changed it’s tune. I am NOT going to “come together.” I despise that he has been elected and I will never call him president.
I am still sorting out my thoughts, but one big one is that I am done with mainstream broadcast news. It’s a cancer in our democracy. They gave him free air time for months during the Primary and only after he won the nom did they start to take it seriously. The head of CBS even said that he was horrible for the country, but great for ratings. And now they are all Monday morning quarterbacking. It sickens me! The 24-hour news cycle created him. They are the first ones to blame in a long list of participants.
I am so disgusted…can you tell? 😉
For months leading up to election day, I was watching hours of TV news every night. It had become a fixture in my life. But since last Tuesday, I have not watched a minute of it. I can’t bear it. TV news went for ratings and the horse race (as opposed to policies) and has failed our electorate.
I feel like an exile in my own country, but I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one.
My big question is – why? Why vote for Donald Trump? I understand that many people were wanting to make a big change from the way things were being done, but why would they think that a billionaire tycoon will change things to their benefit?
He knows how to whip up a crowd, and is brilliant at getting free media. (And had the help of the Russians and the FBI.)
I wonder the same thing. I feel like I was/am very out of touch with what’s going on with his supporters.
Michael Moore is actually one of the few who predicted his win. This article explains why he thought (correctly) that he would win. http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/
Moore’s article was scaringly accurate. I remember reading it at the time and refusing to believe it.
I have a pretty close friend if about 12 or 13 years, who makes a pretty good living, who I thought was not racist, nut he voted for trump. I can’t understand, but I can’t reach out to him either. I’m afraid of what I’ll say. Maybe in a while.
Hi Lisa,
Being a private person, I’m very much like you in being reluctant to reach out and talk to people about politics. But I wonder if that’s part of the problem with this election – too many of us left politics to the politicians. Not blaming you Lisa – I did the same thing – but I would like to see if I need to change something in what I am doing (however small) to change the direction of this national conversation. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
I think that’s a great impulse, Julia. That’s how we’ll really learn what to do differently going forward.
I have a liberal friend who used to work for city government in L.A. Today on her Facebook page, she asked if anyone who voted for Trump would be willing to have an honest conversation with her with no judgments. I was very impressed, because like you, I’m not ready to have that conversation.
Today, I wonder how bad it might be, tomorrow I become my old OCD self and research the possibilities of what could happen and prepare for the worst.
And later….I plan on supporting another Progressive candidate like Bernie Sanders whom i was lucky enough to be a delegate. My anger was earlier when he did not get the nomination, it’s too bad because he very well could have probably beat Trump ): I cried back in July and swore I’d put even more energy into the next candidate like Bernie, and that’s a promise!
And whatever happens I hope we all don’t lose hope and faith and please make sure that no matter what you vote in 2 years in your states elections for federal and state office. It’s an extremely important election to keep a Super Majority out of the Republicans hands.
Till then I will keep listening to Bernie’s speeches and Feeling the Bern! He has not ruled out running in 2020!
So cool that you were a delegate, Gigi. Midterms in 2018 are going to be more important than ever!!
This is a great video by John Oliver. Watch to the end and he lists many organizations that need resources to fight against this administration. I donated to the ACLU today for the first time in my life. Felt really good and gave me a small sense of power since I feel that my vote held none (along with 2 million others).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSDUsMwakI
I watched John Oliver’s show last night, and couldn’t stop sobbing at the end.
I have always voted in every election and nearly every primary. In a red state I vote in the republican primary to try to vote for the least crazy. But that is not enough. I think I need to get involved with the party. It’s not pretty, it’s probably often boring and tedious but it’s how things get done. I may go to DC for the women’s march that is shaping up, just for catharsis. (And b/c I have free place to stay) What I’m not sure how to do without just alienating people is call out racism in people I know. White, educated people who either here or there exhibit it or refuse to acknowledge it exists or downplay it to just a “few bad apples”. Not every racism or people with racist beliefs wears a white robe and hood. I’m white. I grew up in the south and even through I was pretty isolated from nastiest of racism (never heard anyone in my family utter the N word for example) I know racism is there where people will only whisper about it if they’re unsure if you’re receptive or not. People in public who are polite and cordial to everyone and seem too educated to hold such views but among “friends” you will see their true colors. Maybe they aren’t bad people and they don’t outright hurt people, they don’t disrespect the individual minority they encounter or work alongside, but allowing them to go on unchallenged in their thoughts does do real harm to our country. These are the people I think really need to be reached.
I used to shout from the sidelines, but it feels much better when you have skin in the game. You can really make a difference, Claire. I hear that rooms are going for $1000/night in D.C. during inauguration. If you have a free place to stay and can make it to D.C. for the March, that would so cool.